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By Rev. John Jackson
In the first chapter of Exodus in the bible is a haunting and halting word. It says in that eighth verse that “A New King arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.” He did not know that Joseph had saved Egypt and the surrounding region from starvation. He did not know that Joseph had rose to be second in command of all of Egypt. He did not know that Joseph had created wealth for Egypt and Pharoah through his hard work and keen financial strategy. He did not know that the Pharaoh Joseph served depended on Joseph.
I often wonder, why didn’t he know Joseph? Could it be that at some point in Egypt the people stopped teaching their real history and replaced it with the lie of Egyptian exceptionalism? Could it be that the people stopped talking about how someone not of their ethnic background had provided the way and the means to keep them from being decimated when the famine wiped out everybody else, but they twisted the story to make it sound like they saved themselves? Could it be that somewhere along the lines corporate leadership in Egypt commissioned the Egyptian Hollywood film creators to make movies full of prevarications that made the Egyptians as the heroes of the story and the Hebrews the savages?
Why didn’t he know Joseph? It does not say but the text says that not only didn’t he know Joseph but he devised a plan based on hurtful stereotypical lies to stir up hate in ordinary Egyptians to despise the Hebrews but would enrich him. It’s in the text. In verses eight and nine he sent out press releases that said, “the Hebrews are multiplying so rapidly that they will over run our country because of DEI and then join our enemies against us so let’s make things hard for them.” Then in verse eleven his real intention is revealed, because it says, “they put taskmasters over the Hebrews to force them to build supply cities of Pithom and Ramses for Pharaoh.” Pharaoh’s real intention was to get in office to gain unprecedented wealth off the backs of the Hebrews for himself, for his family and his cronies by using the cultivated ignorance of the ordinary working people of Egypt whose lives would actually get worse under this Pharaoh, but their racist hate would not allow them to see clearly.
It is a haunting and halting word that comes from the first chapter of Exodus.
It reminds us that Pharaohs, Kings, Caesars, Potentates and Presidents have always used misinformation to befuddle and bamboozle their masses to hate someone who has done them no wrong in order to fill their pockets off the very people they lied to.
It is a haunting and halting word that we find in the first chapter of Exodus. It not only shows us the age-old strategy of tyrants, but it reveals to us that the Eternal God who the bible says, “never slumbers and never sleeps,” is not pleased with this disrespect of the humanity that God created in his own image.
It reveals to us that while Pharaoh was hatching his plot in private God was orchestrating his plan to overturn the plots and plans of the enemy. God had already prepared a child and a people who would bring about justice and deliverance to the Hebrew people.
It also reveals that God saw the suffering of his people, heard the cries of his people, felt the pain of his people and came down to do something about the condition of his people.
Yes, many people suffered during the reign of this Pharaoh who knew not Joseph, but many more experienced the power of God through their hands, their minds, their hearts and their lives as they eventually exited from the mendacity of Egypt joyously and who then created their own institutions to support and sustain them through the Love of God who sets “tables before us in the presence of our enemies.”
Be Encouraged, Be Authentic and Stay Woke. Uhuru Sassa!
Rev. Dr. John E. Jackson, Sr. is the Senior Pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ-Gary, 1276 W. 20th Ave. in Gary. “We are not just another church but we are a culturally conscious, Christ-centered church, committed to the community; we are unashamedly Black and unapologetically Christian.” Contact the church by email at [email protected] or by phone at 219-944-0500.